Chapter 44: Exit the Cave

  Lan guessed that Hua was recovering at her mother's place, and Wu followed. Although she slept enough, she only ate two overnight buns in a day, so she was still starving to death. After turning around, the broken house was still broken, and there was no sudden appearance of a steaming kitchen. The teapot in her room had spider webs on it, which proved that it had been two nights.

  "How come there's no one here?" Nan Yue Ling asked as she turned around in circles with her.

  "Is anyone else coming? Lan Sheng glanced at him and said, "Be content with what you have, after all, your mother fed you till you're full."

  Nan Yue said with a hum, "I don't want to be a freeloader anyway."

  This is a lonely child. Lan suddenly had an idea, "Do you have any hot food there?"

  "No, it's already late and the kitchen has closed for the day, but I'm a bit hungry." We have two meals a day at home.

  Lan Sheng didn't like sweets and loved salty food, letting out a disappointed sigh.

  "Do you want something hot?" Nan Yue Ling's words carried a hint of triumph.

  Lan Sheng heard it and said, "Is that so? Do you have a way?" Starving to the point of seeing stars, he could even plot with Pí Qiú for food.

  "Got it, but from now on you'll have to be a jinx with me." Nan Yue Ling was not stupid.

  Lan Sheng naturally didn't agree, "I can't share bad luck with you, but if you have nothing to do, you can come visit me." She had nothing else, but she was very patient and strong, insisting on smiling till the end, being sweet till the end.

  "......" Nan Yue Ling hummed, then nodded, "Okay, but don't call me sister." His mother had reminded him again and again.

  "You call me Orchid, I'll call you Leather Ball." Lan Sheng smiled, who's the loser?

  "No way!" What's wrong with you?

  "I call you a leather ball, you're so miserable. You're miserable and lose your appetite, and over time, you'll become thinner. By then, you won't look like a leather ball anymore, and I'll naturally change my tune."

  Nan Yue pouted with his round cheeks, looking skeptical and asked, "Really, can I lose weight like this?" He also knew that being fat didn't look good, but he couldn't stop eating.

  "It doesn't matter if you try." Lan Sheng blinked a pair of phoenix eyes, narrow and fine.

  "One month at most." Nan Yue Ling said and then crawled into the grass thicket, walking behind an old tree.

  Lan Sheng followed him and watched as he parted the dense foliage of the trees, revealing a cave. The legendary...

  "A dog hole?" She exclaimed in surprise.

  "Hmm, are you going or not?" Nan Yue Ling thought she was hesitating. Her sisters were like celestial fairies, and this one might be the same too.

  "Drill! This girl can enter the kitchen, exit the hall, drill through dog holes and climb walls." The dog hole was a synonym for freedom. She rolled up her sleeves, tied up her hair, didn't use the Ling band, and quickly drilled past first.

  Nan Yue was stunned again and again until she was urged by Dong, then she hurriedly crawled out.

  Lan Sheng brushed off the mud on her skirt while observing her surroundings, and found that opposite her was a long wall that intersected with the north courtyard's wall to form a narrow alley. The cave was surrounded by piles of miscellaneous items, and the alley had no gate for entry or exit, which is why such a large cave hadn't been discovered yet.

  Lan Sheng asked Nan Yue Ling, "You can sneak out and have fun, yet you say you're unlucky?"

  In her view, although the Nan Yue Qian Jin seemed to be able to go out easily, in reality they were under strict supervision and could only go to Mingyue Hall or the palace, or places that faced the gate.

  "It's not usually that easy!" Nan Yue puffed out her chest, "I failed my exam, Mother punished me with three days of house arrest, the servants were delighted to slack off and I managed to sneak out."

  "What's going on?" Lan Sheng looked around and walked towards the left alley.

  "Four Symbols Academy's entrance exam for the junior class." Nan Yue Ling gave a slanted glance, "As a member of the Nan Yue family, you don't even know this. Which sister hasn't attended Four Symbols Academy's girls' school?"

  "I'm not your sister." Her understanding of the Four Symbols only went as far as four big elephants, so she didn't have any intention to read books at all. "Besides, it's not that I'm proud, I've been studying hard for over a decade." Different readings, different books, that's all.

  Nan Yue Ling would say, "I've been studying the I Ching for over a decade now. To understand the I Ching, one must talk about fate; otherwise, even if you study it your whole life, you won't grasp it, just like me."

  "Knowing you can't pass, why bother taking the exam?" Lan Sheng was unconvinced.

  "Because I also have the surname Nan Yue, I don't want to be a useless waste, even if I can't become a technician, I can still take up an official position, and not bring shame to my father." A 12-year-old child has already set his ambitions.

  "Then you go ahead." I heard that all officials must be easy-going, it's the basic textbook for national unity, "Skin ball, do you have money on you?"

  A loss serves as a lesson.

  "Not much." Nan Yue Ling lowered her head to examine the sachet, "Three or four pieces of broken silver."

  "That's enough." In these days of no inflation, three or four yuan can get you a big meal. Lan Sheng felt relieved and asked, "Where is there a good restaurant?"

  Nan Yue's mouth was agape, his face a picture of ignorance despite his voracious appetite.

  Lan Sheng remembered what Men Han said about Zui Xian Ju, so he made up his mind to go to the West Market.

  Nan Yue Ling followed her, and as they walked further away from home, she felt a growing sense of unease. "Let's just buy some snacks to hold us over, who knows if our family will start searching for us? That dog hole won't be able to hide us, and it'll be even harder to sneak out in the future."

  "I'll teach you a sentence, live in the present. If luck is bad, sneaking away for a moment will also be discovered, rather than being nervous, it's better to let go and have fun." Thinking of her pitiful situation, she returned home for two days, and Wu San sent over a meal, if not relying on herself, she might have starved to faint.

  Nan Yue Ling thought for a moment and said, "Well, I'm already under house arrest anyway, so what's the difference if it's a few more days?"

  Two men asked their way and found Zui Xian Ju. Lan Sheng was eager to see the octagonal building with a small second floor, and let Nan Yue Ling take charge of ordering dishes.

  Xiao Pigu's life has never been so important, he is excited to death, ordered a string of mountain delicacies and seafood, his partner can't keep up with the orders. Finally, Lansheng reminded him that his wallet was not full, he stopped, leaving Drunken Crab, Stir-fried Lotus Root, and two bowls of plain rice.

  That fellow originally thought a big customer had arrived, but who knew that after two dishes and one meal, his face didn't look too good, he coldly said "got it" and turned around to leave.

  Lan Sheng said, "What a big show-off. This drunken crab is worth one or two silver coins, and he's still not satisfied?"

  Nan Yue Ling Hui said, "The Wang Gong aristocrats are often regulars here, what's a few more silver coins?"

  Ah, so focused on eating well, I forgot that I'm offending the temple below. Lan Sheng immediately looked around. Fortunately, we came early, there were only a few tables of guests nearby, and none of them seemed to be officials, this meal should be able to finish smoothly.

  Zai tan xiu xian ju. Sui wei liang ceng, di xia que shi yong hen duo mu zhu cheng qi de diao lou jian fa, qie zhi you yi ceng neng zuo ke. Ba jiao fen liang ban, yi ban tang ke yi ban gui jian. Lin chuang de tang ke kan nao jie fang shi, bao jian ge kai de gui ke neng xin shang xi mian niao yu hua xiang. Hua duo shao qian, xiang duo shao qing qu, geng xian zui xian ju du te zhi chu.

  But for Lan Sheng, this seat by the window was the most valuable. High and overlooking, she could see two streets of houses, although the structure of the house was not complicated, but the patterns on the roof were unexpectedly many, dazzling at first glance.

  Crab drunkenly arrives, wine fragrance crab yellow, beautiful she took chopsticks, but then put them down, narrowing her eyes to see from afar, is that her post-dinner entertainment?